She cried silently on the video chat, tears running down, sniffles, and gasps for air. "I... n..know. I can... do this."

"Listen, it's not personal. It's just that the last time this happened to me, I lost a friend. We used to be close and then it ended. …

"When will you understand that I love you?" I wrote. "I know it sounds crazy and incomprehensible given the circumstances, but my heart has a mind of its own. I try to rein it in, but it keeps running away after memories of you."

"Little things, like son…

It had all been a fantasy, a fever dream of sorts, the kind that lasts for a year. I had truly believed he could love me back the way I loved him.

First, the straw man, or men, of which there were many. I'd convinced myself that his little girlfriend wa…

Everett called at the door, "Hey, you guys having a party in there?"

Sasha wiped her tears and checked her face in the mirror.

"Just a minute!" Natalie called out.

Some lady pushed her way in, looking perturbed. Natalie shoved Sasha out of the bathroo…

The three of them had been chatting over drinks at a table in a hotel lounge bar. Everett kept sharing what his girl was messaging him as it happened. Then she facetimed him. Sasha excused herself and headed towards the ladies room. Natalie watched her, c…

I sobbed. The Dragon saved me from myself. I got lost in the fog. I was stopped by the wall of despair and I caused the explosion that gave me the pieces to build my fortress, all so I could stay hidden deep inside myself. The Dragon refused to le…

Wallowing in loneliness and sadness, I sank in it, deep, up to my chin. Candles burning in effigy surrounded a warm bath of my misery.

I thought I had gotten past this. I thought that the first time you took a piece of my heart and smashed it that I had …